Nut or bolt lock.



' PATENTED JULY 2a, 1908. B. ENORRIS. NUT on BOLT LOCK. APPLICATIONFILED OCT. 5, 1907;

I Jaye/afar ra 'anz c'zze Ewe r2213 m X J 1 BENJAMINE E. NORRIS, OF NEARBELLS, TENNESSEE.

NUT OR BOLT LOCK.

- Specification of Letterslatent.

Patented July 28, 1908.

Application filed October 5, 1907. Serial No. 396,072.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMINE E. Non- 318, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing in the county of Haywood, near Bells, in the county ofCrockett and State of Tennessee, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Nut or Bolt Locks, of which the following is aspecification.

I My present invention relates to improvements 1n nut or bolt locks, andit has for its object primarily to provide an im roved device of thischaracter that is capab le of being readily applied to the nut or nutsto be locked and which in practice serves to effectuallypreventloosening thereof by reason of vibration and other causes, the lockingdevice cooperatin with the nut or nuts in a manner that w l preventrelative displacement of the arts.

Another 0 j ect of the invention is to pro- Ararat device of thischaracter wherein a single part serves'to simultaneously look aplurality of nuts, thus adapting the device for use gen erally, andespecially in connection with the bolts which secure rail joints. 7

Further objects of the invention are to provide a nut ock that is simplein construction and is capable of being manufactured cheaply, and alsoto rovide a stop which serves as a substitute or one ofthe nuts in orderthat the locks may be used on rail joints wherein one or more of thebolts are omitted.

To these and other ends, the invention consists in certain improvements,and combinations and arrangements of parts, all as will be hereinaftermore fully described, the novel features being pointed out particularlyin the claims at the end of the specification.

In the drawing-Figure 1 is a side elevation of a rail joint providedwith a pair of locking devices constructed in accordance with thepresent invention; Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the rail joint and thelocking de vices shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one ofthe fish plates and the sto which 'may be employed to cooperate with thelocking device in cases where one of the bolts is omitted; Fig. 4 is aperspective view of the locking member; Figs. 5 and 6 are perspectiveviews of nuts provided with circumferential grooves to cooperate withthe looking member to retain it in lockingposition; Fig. 7 is a detailview showing the manner of applying the locking member to a hexagonalnut; Fig. 8 is a side elevation of a portion of the rail oint showingthe manner of applying the locking member in cases where one of thebolts is omitted.

Similar arts are designated by the same reference 0 aracters in theseveral views.

I have shown the invention in the present instance as applied to a railjoint for the purpose of preventing loosening of the nuts by reason ofvibration incident to the traffic over the rails, but it will beunderstood, however, that the invention is not limited in its use'torail joints and that it may be employed generally in all cases whereinit is desirable to look a nut or a plurality of nuts in fastenedposition.

In the present embodiment of the inven- V tion the rail ends 1 and '2are provided with the usual fish plates 3 and 4, a set of four boltslettered 5, being shown in that form of the invention shown in Figs. 1and 2, the bolts being spaced in a direction longitudinally of the railsas is usual. The lock in the present instance embodies primarily alocking member or key 6 which is composed of a strip of resilientmaterial punched from a fiat sheet of spring steel or other suitablemetal, the resilient action of the strip having a normal or inherenttendency to return the same to a substantially straight form after beingbowed or flexed. This locking mem-- ber is adapted to extend between thenuts of two adjacent bolts, the opposite ends of the memberbeingprovided with the nut engaging surfaces 7 and 8 which engage flatsides formed on the sides of the respective nuts,

the .member being applied between them I while it is flexed on atransverse axis so as to temporarily shorten its length, and when inposition, the resilient action of the member tending to straighten itproduces a spreading or separating tendency'of its ends, and this actionserves to retain the member in position.

In order to revent disengagement of the member in a irectionlongitudinally of the bolts, it is preferable to provide the nuts withcircumferential grooves which are formed either on one side of the nut,or they may extend entirely around it as shown in the present forms ofthe invention. The nuts 9 shown in Figs. 2 and 5 are each provided witha circumferential groove 10 which is arranged intermediate the inner andouter ends of the nut and forms a pair of inner and outer shoulders 11and 12,'respectively, the

latter being arranged to engage the opposite flat sides of the lockingmember and thereby prevent its lateral displacement. However, the nutsmay be formed as shown in Fig. 6, in which case the groove 13 isarranged immediately adjacent to the inner end of the nut and forms anouter shoulder 14 which serves to prevent displacement of the lockingmember in a direction toward the outer end of the nut, inward movementof the locking member being prevented by its engagement with the fishplate or a washer which may be interposed between the nut and thefishplate.

In order to prevent relative vertical displacement of the lockingmember, the opposite ends of the latter are preferably provided withpairs of retaining projections 15 and 16 which are adapted to extendover the upper and lower sides of the respective nuts, while thesurfaces 7 and 8 abut against the proximate sides of the two adjacentnuts, and these projections are also held in cooperative relation withthe nuts by reason of the resilient action of the locking member. Inthose forms of the invention shown in Figs. 1, 2, 5 and 6, the retainingprojections will enter the grooves at the upper and lower sides of therespectivenuts and will coo erate with the shoulders at those sides, anthereby assist also in preventing relative lateral displacement of thelocking member.

In those cases wherein it is desirable to employ the locking device inconnection with nuts of hexagonal or similar forms, the nut is providedwith an angularly shaped reduced portion 17 at its inner end, as shownin Fig. 7, the surface 7 of the locking member in those cases engagingthe fiat sides of the reduced portion, and the retaining projections 15and 16 engaging above and below the latter, those portions of the nutprojecting beyond the reduced portion serving to confine thelocking'rnember and thereby prevent lateral displacement thereof. Or inother words, the angular reduced portion provides a groove or a seriesof grooves at the inner'end of the nut, andthose portions of the nutprojecting beyond the reduced portion constitute shoulders as in theprevious cases.

In some instances, the full set of bolts is not employed on each joint,that is to say, one or more of the bolts is omitted, and in those casesa locking member 18 is employed which is similar to those hereinbeforedescribed, having one end formed to engage the remaining nut of thepair, and its opposite end is provided with a notch 19 which is adaptedto cooperate with-a similar notch 20 extending transversely of a stop 21which is arranged in fixed relation to the fish plate or otherstationary part to which the bolts. are applied. This stop may be formedeither of a finger struck up from the fish plates, or of a pin or screwapplied thereto, a screw being shown in the present instance which istapped into an opening 22 formed in the fish plate adjacent to theaperture for the bolt which has been omitted. In that case thetransverse notch 20 of the stop serves to prevent relative lateraldisplacement of the locking member, and the notch 19 in thecooperatingend of the latter serves to prevent a relative vertical movementthereof, the stop serving to sustain the locking member under tension sothat its opposite end will remain in locking engagement with the nutwhich is to be locked.

In practice, the bolts may be applied in the usual way, but intightening the same, they are turned preferably to positions where thefiat sides of the two adjacent nuts are in. substantially parallelrelation. The locking member may then be applied by first flexing itlongitudinally so that it assumes a bowed form that will permit the ends7 and 8 there- 35 of to enter the peripheral grooves of the nuts and theretaining projections to project at the upper and lower sides thereof,and when the pressure is released from the member its resilient actionwill tend to straighten it, causing the ends 7 and 8 to spread or extendand firmly engage the flat sides of the nuts. When the locking member isso applied, turning of the nuts is prevented, and displacement of thelocking member cannot occur for 5 the reason that the shoulder orshoulders in the periphery of the nuts serve to prevent relative lateralmovement of the member, and the vertical movement thereof is pre ventedby the retaining projections which 0 engage above and below the nut. Thelocking member may be readily removed for the purpose of furthertightening of the bolts or removal thereof by flexing it into a bowedform, and this will disengage the retaining projections and the ends ofthe locking member from the nuts and thus permit its removal. Anysuitable implement may be employed, of course, for bending or flexingthe member in applying and removing it.

I have shown and described the invention in the present instance asapplied to the nut portion of a bolt, but the purpose of the in vention,of course, is to prevent relative rotation of the bolt or nut, and itwill be 1111- derstood that using the lock in connection with boltsprovided with heads having angular surfaces, I contemplate applying thelocking member to the bolt head in a manner similar to that in which itis applied to the nut, and in each instance wherein the term nut is em)loyed, a bolt head is regarded as an equivalent, and for this reason, Ishall employ the term poly onal portion to describe the part to beIocked and which is therefore engaged by the locking member or plate.

A nut lock constructed in accordance with the present invention may beused advantageously, not only in connection with rail 1,30

joints, but in various instances wherein it is desirable to preventloosening of the nuts, as it does not mutilate the threads of the nut orbolt, and it is capable of being applied and removed with the greatestfacility. Moreover, the locking member may be composed of a punching ofspring steel, or other resilient metal, and it is capable of beingapplied to nuts of ordinary form, although it is preferable to employnuts provided with peripheral' grooves, shoulders or equivalent meanswhich serve to prevent relative lateral displacement of the member byreason of vibration to which the parts are usually subjected.

I claim as my invention- 1. A look of the character described comprisinga normally straight resilient locking late flexible laterally andcapable of inlierently assuming a straight form,- said plate having atone end a pair of short upper and lower retaining projections formingcontinuations of the longitudinal edges of the plate and lying in thelane thereof, a transverse end bearing su ace being formed on the platebetween said retaining projections, a part to be locked having apolygonal portion which is provided with a pair of retaining shouldersspaced; axially and forming an angular reduced portion between them, thetransverse end bearing surface of the locking plate engaging thepolygonal portion between the pair of axially spaced shoulders thereon,and means abutting against the opposite end of said plate, the inherenttendency of the plate causing it to assume an approximately strai htform and producing a yielding pressure 0 said end surface against thesaid angular portion between said shoulders, the upper and lowerprojections on the locking plate serving to prevent edgewisedisplacement thereof in either direction, 2. A lock of the characterdescribed comprising a normally straight resilient locking plateflexible laterally and having an inher ent tendency and ability tostraighten, the plate being provided with an end surface lying in aplane at a right angle to the length of the plate, laterally spacedretaining projections extending beyond the said end surface and at rightangles thereto, a art to be locked provided with a olygona portionhaving a pair of parallel axially spaced shoulders both ofiset axiallyof the mner end of the projection and cooperating with the end surfaceand the retainln projections on the locking late to prevent ateraldisplacement of. the p ate in either direction axially of the part, andmeans abutting against the o posite end of said plate, the inherent res'ient action of the plate retaining the latter in engagement underyielding pressure with that 'ortion of the projection between saidshoulers.

3. A look of the character described embodying a resilient lockingmemberhaving oneend adapted to engage a nut and provided at its opposite endwith a transverse nut engaging surface having a depressed notch, and astop adapted to be placed in fixed relation to the nut and provided witha transverse groove to cooperate with the edge of the notch of thelocking member to reta1n the latter in flexedform.

4. A lock of thecharacter described embodying a locking member composedof a flat strip of resilient material flexible laterally and having oneend formed to engage a flat side of a nut, and its opposite end providedwith a notch between its longitudinal edges, and a screw adapted to besecured in fixed relation to the nut and adapted to enter the notch ofthe locking member, the screw being rovided with a transverse groove toreceive the edge of the strip adj acent to the notch therein.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing 'witnesses.

BENJAMINE E. NORRIS.

Witnesses: J. W. E. MOORE,

CHAS. W. ANDERSON, Jr.

